“I’m like Rafa on Philippe Chatrier”: Home comforts inspire Zhang Shuai back to form

When you have lost 24 matches in a row, what do you need to get back to winning ways? For Zhang Shuai, it seems all it needed was to be playing at home.

The 35-year-old went into the China Open having last tasted victory on the singles court in February 2023. But after breaking the streak against McKenzie Kessler in round one, she then stunned sixth seed Emma Navarro and on Saturday, made it three in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Greet Minnen.

Once ranked No 22, Zhang began the week as the world No 595 but her efforts in Beijing mean she’ll climb to just outside the top 300, at least. Playing at home, she said, had done the trick.

“I think the big difference for me is the court, the surface, very different,” she said. “At China Open, this court I think (is) like Philippe Chatrier for Rafa (Nadal). When I’m on this court, I have everything.

“I mean, this court, because I grew up from Tianjin, Beijing, I play this hard court more than 20 years every day. I think my tennis is so natural on this court, I can play my best tennis on this court.

“When some court is similar this one, I can have good results. We always say, Oh, that’s little similar like China, like Beijing or Tianjin, the court, the surface. That’s why I play also very well in Tokyo and Seoul. I think that’s the big difference.”

Strong record at China Open

Zhang will take on Magdalena Frech for a place in the quarter-finals. She’s made the last eight twice before, in 2016 and 2018.

“I don’t know why, but every time when I play China Open, I play so good, so well. Maybe because this court and my tennis is so working, like Rafa on French Open.”

Zhang now a player to avoid in draw

Zhang’s 24-match losing streak is the second-longest in the Open era, beaten only by the 29 matches in a row lost by Madeleine Pegel of Sweden at the very start of her career. But her performances this week have turned things on their head.

“Even last week, I couldn’t win match,” she said. “Everybody thought I think, Oh, Shuai in the draw. Maybe everybody want to play against me. Now, actually no one want to play against me. Just one week, after one match, totally different. I don’t think too much about before. I don’t think too much about future. I just enjoy every moment and think about today, now.”

Zhang: “I knew I was closing the gap”

Zhang said she knew the wins would come again, having lost a tight three-setter to Ashlyn Krueger at the US Open and then gone onto reach the final of the women’s doubles.

“Being into the US Open final, I was also proud,” said Zhang, a two-time major winner in doubles. “Even though I was seeing a losing streak in the singles, I was closing the gap against the top players. I’m getting closer and closer to a win.

“So when I eventually had a win, I wasn’t surprised. My friends, my colleagues, were not surprised. They congratulated me. Even though they were not in Beijing, they sent a video, they tried to video call me.

“When I was having a losing streak, they were telling me that, Eventually your win will come. We have full confidence in you. With so much effort in your career, you will need just a little bit more patience for your win.”

Learning from defeats

This is not the first time Zhang has come out of nowhere to produce good results.

In 2016, she arrived at the Australian Open having lost all 14 of her main draw matches in Grand Slams, only to qualify, then beat world No 2 Simona Halep in the first round and go all the way to the quarter-finals.

The failures were meaningful to me. I always reflect on my failures. Why did I lose? What was the critical point? Like what I did in the US Open, if I did one point well, I could probably turn it around. But that doesn’t matter because I have been learning, I have been improving.

“I fix the problem of what I did in the 24-match losing streak… that make a stronger Zhang Shuai today. Each breakthrough, each failure might be a result. I have upgraded from many versions. That is why you see me winning three matches. You need to be smart to resolve these issues, to see a newer version of yourself.”

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